Gold member after UA533 5/18 — not surprised I'm stuck (yet nightmare flight), surprised at the lack of overnight support. Am I right to expect more?
Booked EWR → ORD → AMS on May 18. UA533 ran 7 hours late on weather, then sat on the tarmac at ORD for another 1 hour 20 minutes waiting for a gate. Missed my AMS connection, stuck overnight in Chicago. The delay itself — annoying but, that's flying.
Here's what's shocked me as a Gold: rebooking options and meal vouchers were fine, but that's where it stopped. No hotel, no toiletries, no amenity kit, no help with a change of clothes — nothing for an unexpected overnight. On top of that, one of the "rebookings" they put on my record was EWR → AMS for the 19th (from Newark, while I was sitting in ORD) and the agent told me I'd asked for it. I never did. I also get the staff had a really hard day with the ground stop, but they weren't that understanding and helpful.
Two questions:
- Even on a weather day, is "you're on your own for the overnight" really the bar for a Gold? Or did I get a bad draw?
- What should I push for with customer care — hotel reimbursement, amenity/clothing comp, correction of the bogus "customer requested" note, miles/ETC? Aiming right? (my bags were checked from EWR - AMS (via ORD)
24 hours later - here's to hoping things go smoothly to get home.